Seven Years in Tibet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Author | Heinrich Harrer |
---|---|
Genre(s) | Travel literature |
Publisher | Various |
Released | 1953 |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Seven Years in Tibet is an adventure story written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer based on his real life experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the onset of the Second World War and the Chinese People's Liberation Army Invasion.
Seven Years in Tibet tells the story of how Austrians Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter, having been imprisoned by the British while mountaineering in the north of India at the beginning of World War II in 1939, eventually escape across the border into Tibet in 1944 and cross the treacherous high plateau. There in Tibet, whilst initially being ordered to return to India, they are welcomed at Lhasa and they become acquainted with a completely different way of life. There Harrer is introduced to the Dalai Lama, who is still a boy, and he becomes a tutor and then close friend to the young spiritual leader during his time in Lhasa. Harrer and Aufschnaiter remain in the country until the Communist Chinese invasion in 1950.
Two films have been made of the book; the first, in 1956, was directed by Hans Nieter, in which Heinrich Harrer appears as himself. The second, released in 1997, was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starred Brad Pitt and David Thewlis.
[edit] See also
- Beyond Seven Years in Tibet, My Life Before, During and After — Heinrich Harrer's full autobiography which is published in English in 2006.
[edit] External links
- Seven Years in Tibet Book Review at The Open Critic (1956)